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The Africa Big 5 in zoos

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by Emanuel Theodorus, 5 Oct 2019.

  1. Emanuel Theodorus

    Emanuel Theodorus Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Does anybody knows any zoo that houses African Elephant, African Lion, African Leopard, Black/White Rhinoceros, and Cape Buffalo? Because it seems quite rare to see all of these animals in captivity at once. I think Johannesburg Zoo has all five of them, but anybody else knows any other place?
     
  2. HOMIN96

    HOMIN96 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Well..Dvur Kralove "sort of" has it, as they currently hold:

    Cape Buffalo
    African Elephant
    Barbary Lion
    Both Rhino species
    Persian Leopard

    Obviously, Persian is not African leopard, so they are close, but not close enough :D
     
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  3. Kudu21

    Kudu21 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa in Pretoria also exhibits the Big 5, including both rhinos.
     
  4. lintworm

    lintworm Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Safaripark Beekse Bergen keeps the exact same and Lisbon had those as well minus Black rhino. Pairi Daiza has African elephant, White rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Javan leopard.
     
  5. HOMIN96

    HOMIN96 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Yeah I feel like Europe's biggest problem in this is finding the African Leopard :D
     
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  6. Jogy

    Jogy Well-Known Member

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    Pairi Daiza has also the big 5 - however also not with african leopard and with white instead of black rhino...
     
  7. Emanuel Theodorus

    Emanuel Theodorus Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Seems African Leopard isn't really that common in zoos, which is honestly a bummer since it is my favourite leopard subspecies. I was also wondering if any other zoos that houses this subspecies.
     
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  8. Sarus Crane

    Sarus Crane Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I remember when Jacksonville Zoo had a a pair of African Buffalo right next to the mixed species White Rhino enclosure. I don't know why they got rid of them and replaced them with Okapi. They were so unique!
     
  9. Mehdi

    Mehdi Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Out of the zoos that claim to have African leopards [according to ztl] in Europe (though a lot if not all of those are dubious), none keeps every species of the big five. CERZA Lisieux in France comes close (which is to be expected as it's very safari-oriented) but doesn't have elephants.
     
  10. AmbikaFan

    AmbikaFan Well-Known Member

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    I think these are even less common in US zoos. I've never seen an African leopard, and cape Buffalo only at SDZ, unless Disney had them and I've just forgotten. Where can these species be found stateside?
     
  11. birdsandbats

    birdsandbats Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    There are no pure African Leopards in the US, but there are some generic animals that display the African phenotype.
     
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  12. birdsandbats

    birdsandbats Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    So it seems only Pretoria has the big five...?
     
  13. AmbikaFan

    AmbikaFan Well-Known Member

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    Does this mean they have been interbred with other sub-species like the Persian?
     
  14. birdsandbats

    birdsandbats Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I don't know about Persian specifically, but yes, it means they are mixed with other subspecies.
     
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  15. KevinB

    KevinB Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I believe Safaripark Beekse Bergen does have black rhinos, but only in the Safari Resort area so they are not visible to "normal" visitors, only to resort guests. A system of animal holding which I must say I very dislike. I don't mind resort guests getting special views or something, but keeping species exclusively to them just rubs me the wrong way.
     
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  16. Nix

    Nix Well-Known Member

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    African Leopards are really common in South African Zoos. I know of at least 7
     
  17. Dassie rat

    Dassie rat Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    ZTL lists the following:
    36 zoos with African savanna elephants, 11 with East African bush elephants and 40 with South African bush elephants.
    14 with Cape buffalo and 27 with forest buffalo.
    22 with eastern black rhinos and 1 with South central black rhinos.
    96 with southern white rhinos.
    31 with 'Barbary' lions, 5 with Kalahari lions, 1 with Somali lions, 58 with Southeast African lions, 27 with Southwest African lions and 1 with West African lions.
    2 with African leopards, 1 with Central African leopards.
     
  18. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Morelia zoo in Michoacan state in Mexico has / had all of those species.
     
  19. Westcoastperson

    Westcoastperson Well-Known Member

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    Could you maybe import some to the US? Because I'm really starting to get sick of only having Amur Leopards because they get put in jungle sections or labeled as African when zoos could be giving them Amur or Manchuria sections and giving African Leopards their spot and having Javan Leopards in Jungle exhibits.
     
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  20. Dassie rat

    Dassie rat Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Possonovo Zoo has African leopards and Southwest African lions.
    Sosto Zoo has African leopards and East African and South African elephants, as well as 'lions'
    Olmen Balen has Central African leopards and African savanna and South African elephants